Infantino plans to sell shares in World Cup to private investors, UEFA protests immediately

On Tuesday afternoon, several well-informed journalists revealed that FIFA would soon announce plans to sell shares in the World Cup. It didn’t take long - within two hours, FIFA issued an official statement confirming the intentions described in Martyn Ziegler’s explosive article for The Times.

What’s this about? Currently, the World Cup is organised solely by FIFA as an independent body governing global football. Under the new vision, FIFA would create a separate company to manage the tournament (FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE for short), and minority shares in it would be sold.

As Ziegler described in The Times, allowing private investors to buy rights in the world’s biggest sporting event would directly secure a fortune for Gianni Infantino. He would oversee the lucrative subsidiary and could earn tens of millions of dollars.

To 'sell' the project well to the media, FIFA’s statement emphasised - no less than seven times - that FIFA would retain full control over the tournament as the majority shareholder. And the minority shareholders? The main one would reportedly be Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

UEFA protest immediately

Assurances about 'control' do nothing to lessen the criticism directed at FIFA’s headquarters. UEFA responded briefly, firmly condemning the plans and calling for them to be abandoned.

"This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes this extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, fans, governments, and everyone who cares about the future of the game.

"The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade - especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA's to sell."

Principles or millions: What will the federations choose?

UEFA's protest, however, isn't a litmus test for the plan to further commercialise the World Cup. The vote by its members, once it's officially presented, will be the final one. Infantino is promising national associations such large sums that some might find them convincing.

This year alone, the stake sale plan is expected to generate $4.2 billion in revenue, with FIFA reporting an estimated final valuation of $20 billion. This will enable FIFA to significantly increase its funding for national associations.

Previously, FIFA was committed to providing each of the 211 federations with $8 million between 2027 and 2030 under the FIFA Fast Forward Programme (FFFP). Now, the pledge is increasing.

This year alone, an optional 20 million for urgent spending is available. For the 2027-2030 period, it's another 20 million instead of eight million, then 22 million in the following period (2031-2034), and then up to 24 million for each national association in 2035-2038.

Especially for federations that are more financially dependent on the world headquarters, this is a colossal difference, sometimes exceeding 100% of their turnover.